Delegating responsibility in a home business can be a scary prospect. In the
beginning, you want to handle every detail and every aspect of your work in
order to be a success. But there are parts of your business that you might
be able to hand over to other people, and thus lighten your load for more
important matters.

Learning when to delegate is the first step. Are there any parts of your work
day that you wish someone else could handle? And that you feel someone
else should handle? Your first response may be ‘no.’ It’s hard to let go of the
control over everything and at first, you should really try not to.

But there are parts of your work life that could be delegated. For example,
you might not have to run to the post office for shipments each time there is
an order. You could either arrange for delivery pickup or pay a family
member to do it. Both ways are reliable and both ways get the package
delivered. The same goes for any other post office chores.

In terms of supplies, you could always arrange for online ordering and next
day delivery. This is so much easier than running out to the store, and
fighting traffic that the delivery fees will seem like a tip.

You may also be able to delegate some of the office work to a freelancer or
college student. If you dictate notes and letters that need to go out—have
someone else type them. Find someone that is reliable and pay them a small
wage and you’ll have a typist for your business. It really helps cut down
wasted office time.

As for your advertising and website management, if you believe that
delegating these jobs will allow you to be more productive, delegate them.
There is no need for you to handle these items past the initial planning
stages. If you want to make changes, you can let someone know and then
make the changes.

In many cases, those that you delegate jobs out to will be more qualified
than you and will do a better job. Don’t be stingy; it’s worth the money to
relieve your self of the responsibility and the time commitment. If you’re not
qualified, it may end up taking you twice as long—and that’s a waste of
money too.

You can still be in control when you delegate menial tasks to others—you’ll
have more time to be.

HOW TO BE A PROBLEM SOLVER

There are two ways to look at problem solving in your company. One is
using problem solving as a way to generate sales and two is to manage your
business’s problems internally. Let’s explain.

What most business owners realize is that people don’t buy ‘things,’ they buy
solutions to problems. They don’t like cutting their lawn because it takes too
long, so you offer a faster mower that gives them their free time back. You
don’t wash their dog, you give them time to do other things that they
wouldn’t be doing if they were washing their car.

Look at your market and see what ‘problems’ exist and how you can fix
them. That way, people don’t feel like they’re being sold ‘something,’ but
they feel like they are getting a problem solved.

And as for the day to day problems that you encounter, the best advice is to
prevent them. When you do have a problem come up, you want to actively
look for the best way to solve it and then make sure that you institute ways
to prevent it. Ask yourself why it happened and if there is anything that
could have been done better.

Make problems learning experiences and you’ll be problem free.
When dealing with customer problems, you’ll want to do damage control
first. Find out exactly what happened. You should contact the customer
yourself if you can and find out the whole story. A lot of times problems can
be solved with a little patience and understanding.

Give the customer a call or an email, expressing your concern and your
willingness to remedy the situation.

What are they upset about or concerned about? What would make them
satisfied? When you find out what they want, then take immediate steps to
do it. This isn’t the time to think about your profits, it’s time to think about
the future profits that you may miss out on if you don’t remedy this situation.

And in situations when it seems that there is no resolution (and there will be
people like that too)? Do your best to appease them and correct their
problem. Even if they don’t agree to anything in particular, do something.
Avoiding doing anything is the worst thing that you can do.

Problem solving is as easy as listening to the customer, finding what they
need and then giving it to them.